


With a Little Help From my Friends

by FireflyclassTARDIS



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller Are Best Friends, Alec Hardy Whump, Alec Hardy and His Broken Heart, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Angst, But Mostly Hurt, Child Abuse, Closeted Character, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Misunderstood Alec Hardy, eventually, gay alec hardy, small town vibes, takes a while - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 18:47:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21104234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflyclassTARDIS/pseuds/FireflyclassTARDIS
Summary: There are not enough high school AU's for the Broadchurch fandoms, let alone enough fics that look at their childhoods.I got sick of waiting so I'm writing my ownAlec is the new kid at Broadchurch Intermediate and High School, he and his family moved from Glasgow after some troubles, now all Alec has to do now is get through his last year of high school relatively unscathed. Easy right? With emotional walls up to his ears, will these be enough to deter the likes of Ellie Miller?I haven't written a fanfiction in years and I'm not from England but I'll try my best :)





	With a Little Help From my Friends

POV Ellie

Ellie’s day had started slowly, the cold winter weather in Broadchurch seemed to make the already sleepy town near catatonic.

The heater in Ellie’s room broke last night so she woke up shivering violently, resentfully she crawled out of bed, knowing that she had school to go to.

Ellie was in her last year at high school thankfully, she loved Broadchurch, but the never-ending cycle of school home sleep was beginning to irk her.

Trudging down the stairs she saw that her dad had already left for work and that her mother was busy chatting on the phone with aunt Jenny, grabbing her pre-packed lunch she began the journey to school.

The walk to school took a mere 5 minutes, seeing that she lived in the middle of town. The weather was cold enough to ice up the footpaths but not enough to snow yet.

The air in front of Ellie’s face steamed up at she approached the schoolyard, flagging down her best friend Beth, the two bundled into the main school building thankful for the little heat provided by the vast building.

POV Alec

It’s not like Alec wasn’t thankful for the opportunity to start fresh at a new high school for his last year, he was … people at his last school just knew too much, such intimacy made Alec inexplicably uncomfortable.

This new school though, he had promised himself he wouldn’t get attached, no need for anyone to get to know the real Alec. That would just make it hurt more when it started to crumble to the ground.

After a week of ‘settling in time’ in this new village, he was set to start school.

Broadchurch was a far cry from the hustle bustle streets of easy Glasgow, people were friendly here, that would make it much harder to remain anonymous to the townspeople. Alec hated the feeling of being watched over, his aim for this first day was to present as an antisocial loner, someone no one would want to be friends with.

Waking up has never been difficult for Alec, today he wakes up hours before his alarm was set. Looking through his wardrobe for something non-descript wasn’t a long task, his favourite jerseys all were band ones, that was no good, no need for anyone to get to know him even one iota.

Instead he settled on a dark red hoodie over his uniform of a white shirt and a blue tie, nothing too dark, so as not to land himself with the tag of ‘emo prick’ too early.

Making sure he had an apple for his lunch and his meds, he stepped quietly out the front door whispering a quiet ‘goodbye’ to his older sister who was asleep on the couch with a bottle of beer precariously grasped close to her stomach.

Alec had taken a few walks around the village over the past week and knew fairly well where he was going, the walk was only 15 minutes long despite the fact he lived down by the docks on the other side of town, how long can a walk really be to anywhere in a town of twelve thousand people?

It became clear quite early on that he had made a mistake thinking he could handle the cold in his threadbare hoodie, rubbing his hands together he made it to the school gates.

Looked like a nice enough school, much nicer than his old one but still obviously in need of a serious renovation, however that could be expected in a small town such as this.

There was a gathering of ‘hard lads’ outside the entrance, pretending they didn’t feel the cold. Alec had more sense and slipped in the entrance hoping to go unnoticed by the local gossip syndicate, assume there was one. Who was he kidding, in a boring little town like this what other entertainment could people get?

The lady at the desk looked above all else, bored as hell. Alec tried to look casual as he approached, any excessive nerves were bound to get noticed by the gaggles of girls chatting animatedly.

The woman startled as he cleared his throat and said

‘what can I do for you dear?’, marred with a heavy Dorset leaning accent; way too enthusiastically for this early in the morning, glad for something new to focus on he figured.

‘My name is Alec Hardy; I’m supposed to be starting here today’

‘Of course, didn’t think I recognised you’ Her smile audible with every word she spoke

She looked down at her PC for a few beats and the printer to her left clunked to life and spat out a timetable.

‘First class in 10 minutes, block D I believe; just out that door and to the right’.

With his head down Alec made his way towards D block, finding it to be far better heated than the main building.

His first class was homeroom in D15, Alec decided to wait around the corner, so as not to seem too eager as it was still 5 minutes away.

Picking at the thread hanging off his hoodie, Alec thought about the year to come; surely it had to be better than the last. That’s how it works right? Have enough bad things happen to you and the world owes you some happiness, no evidence for that could be found in his life so far though.

\---

A shrill bell knocks me out of my thoughts and a latent rumble of footsteps spews forth from the stairwell. One more minute I’ll wait until going to class, don’t want to pinch anyone’s seat accidentally.

I slowly begin my walk to D15, the various sounds coming from the door not very encouraging.

Thankfully none of the students notice me as I slip into the classroom. A sweaty balding man sitting on the desk in front of the class summons me,

‘You must be that Hardy lad?’

‘mhm’ I reply, not wanting to give away the seemingly exotic accent quite yet.

‘You can grab that seat at the back next to Mark. Mark give a shout will ye?’

A brown-haired kid from the back raised a hand, gave me a nod and went back to his conversation with his friends.

I take my seat and put my bag on the desk, lean back and try block out the racket of the class.


End file.
